SF Giants need to boost critical area of the lineup

As a team, the SF Giants put up a .311 on-base percentage in 2025, which was 20th in baseball. On the other hand, three of the five leaders in that category are still playing postseason baseball.

SF Giants need to boost critical area of the lineup

The leaders in on-base percentage were the Toronto Blue Jays (.333 on-base percentage) and Milwaukee Brewers (.332 on-base percentage). The Dodgers were fifth in baseball with a .327 on-base percentage.

Interestingly, both the Blue Jays and Brewers are down in the ALCS and NLCS, respectively. That said, it is hard to ignore that they have put together a solid process to get to this point. 

Over the past few seasons, you can pretty easily connect some of the top teams in on-base percentage to a deep playoff run. As my economics professor would always say, correlation does not equal causation, but the correlation is pretty strong here.

The Dodgers and New York Yankees were second and third in on-base percentage, respectively, in 2024. Both teams reached the World Series.

The Texas Rangers were third in that category in 2023, and secured a World Series title in five games over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I do this exercise to try and connect a stat or process to success. It is fair to suggest that teams that reach base at a higher clip tend to have a better overall record.

The Giants struggled with getting on base in 2025. There were 10 teams worse than them in that category. Only the Cleveland Guardians (.296 on-base percentage) from that group reached the playoffs, and were helped by playing in a relatively weak AL Central division.

Rafael Devers (.347 on-base percentage) and Matt Chapman (.340 on-base percentage) led the way among Giants hitters with at least 240 plate appearances. Willy Adames did a nice job overall this year, but only put up a .318 on-base percentage. That is a respectable mark, but there is room for improvement. 

As a team, the Giants were 25th with a .235 batting average and fourth with a 9.2 percent walk rate. They worked plenty of walks, and arguably were a little too passive at the plate, but they did not find enough hits in the field. 

They should not seek batting average for the sake of boosting batting average. There are plenty of hitters with a high batting average who do not get on base at a decent clip. 

The Giants also need to consider positional fit. Sure, a player like Luis Arráez is a good hitter and has the type of contact skills that this front office covets, but there is not much of a defensive fit. The same is likely true for Dominic Smith.

For the most part, the Giants’ core of hitters did its job of reaching base at a good rate. They need to support that cast with hitters who raise the on-base floor. The proof is in the playoffs.